Spiegelbilder III
by Mantinas
Summary: The final part of the Spiegelbilder trilogy. It's the Third Empire and grown-up Ed, Edd, and Eddy are archeologists exploring the find of the century; a semi-intact city from the First Empire. The elusive secret will be revealed. Hope you enjoy!


Spiegelbilder III

Mantineus-The final part! Let the secret be revealed! **And I swear I will finish "Growing Up Jimmy"! Just give me time! Please! DX**

Disclaimer-I own nothing!

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The excavation site was buzzing. They had just found the find of this era. A semi-intact city from the First Empire, its once shiny towers now decimated into ruble and the skeletal remains of their frame.

Edd toiled over the artifact, his deft hands moving with a grace not even seen in a sculptor's design. He was lost in his own little world, his mind set about to complete the task at hand.

Eddy waited outside, anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the tent flap, awaiting the news. Ed was digging holes.

"Oh cool!" He shouted. "Skele-tons!"

It was a second later when he shouted once more.

"And they're holding hands!"(1)

Ed grumbled. He only went into this business because of the fame and fortune it would bring. No one ever told him this would be a long, boring, and tedious job. But he had the best crew, his two friends.

Edd's scream rang out through the site, piercing the souls that heard it. Both Ed and Eddy ran inside the tent and were greeted with the sight of their intelligent friend cowering in fear in the corner of the room, the artifact that he was working on laying, semi-exposed, on the table.

It was a mirror.

"What is it, sock-head?" Eddy asked, about to look inside the mirror.

"Don't look!" The smart one of the group shouted.

"What?!" Eddy shouted, about to start an argument with Edd when Ed noticed that there was more dirt on the top half of the mirror. He blew on it.

Some of the dirt remained and revealed words.

"Hey, look guys!" Ed shouted. "Gibberish!"

Edd, losing his fear in light of the discovery and studied the writing his dimwitted friend dubbed 'gibberish'.

"Die Warheit ist der Tod." Edd read.

Instantly a light bulb ignited in his head.

"That explains it!" Edd shouted.

"Explains what?" Eddy shouted, really getting annoyed. "It's just gibberish."

"What I saw." Edd said. "And it isn't 'gibberish'; it's German, a dead language. It was spoken at the beginning of the First Empire, probably throughout it. It's in the sole book that has survived through these Mysterious Ending of Empires."

"Yeah, yeah." Eddy spat. "Well, what does it say, genius?"

"It says 'The secret is…Death'."

Eddy scoffed. "That's stupid. Isn't it obvious that death is a part of things?"

"Yes," Edd said. "But…What I saw in the mirror…I believe this is a different death. Or, perhaps the 'old' death, only more aware. Perhaps, instead of being a force, it is now…A living thing."

Eddy laughed. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

Through tear soaked eyes, Eddy saw something in the mirror. His eyes bulged and a loud scream erupted through his throat. Within the mirror was a bare, grinning skull wearing a cloak. Its boney fingers clutched at severed(because that's all that was seen in the mirror) head of Eddy. Only, his head wasn't normal. It had rotting flesh, long, weeping wounds, and his hair was falling out; balding him.(2)

Eddy cringed in fear out of the mirror's line of sight. Ed looked over and saw the Reaper, his hands on his rotting shoulders. With a chuckle and wave, Ed said:

"Hi creepy guy…COOL! I'm a zombie guys! Just like in issue number forty-five of the horror comic series: I Was a Teenage Zombie Prom Queen!"

"_Exitus…._" The voice came from the mirror. It was deep and dripping with neutrality and creepiness.

"What…What do you mean 'The End'?" Edd asked.

"_Everything…."_

The sun went out and everyone became dark.

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If you want to know who they are, read "Spiegelbilder II". They're holding hands because I wanted to hint at them as a pair again. XD

When I was thinking of what Nigel and Wallabee saw in the mirror in "Spiegelbilder II"(also the answer to number 1), I thought of them seeing either the grim reaper(cloak covering his face) or themselves zombified. But in here, I changed it to both since I couldn't really decide which would be better until it went and made Eddy see himself. And we all know Eddy is vain and nothing scares him more than image issues. XD


End file.
